More women kidnapped for brides

China is witnessing an increasing number of foreign women who have been cheated, kidnapped and smuggled into the country, a senior official has said.

Most of these women are from rural areas in Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos. They eagerly want to find jobs in China or marry rich Chinese men to escape poverty, Chen Shiqu, director of the Ministry of Public Security's anti-human trafficking office, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

"The number of foreign women trafficked to China is definitely rising," Chen said, without disclosing how many women have been rescued by Chinese police nationally.

However, in North China's Hebei province, police have rescued 206 trafficked foreign brides since April 2009, mainly from Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, according to figures from the provincial public security department.

Chen said the lack of natural barriers, such as rivers or mountains in the border areas between China and Southeast Asian countries, in addition to poverty in some regions in these countries, contribute to the rising trafficking of foreign women.

The victims are often sold in rural Chinese areas as brides of local villagers, or forced to provide sex services in underground prostitution dens in China's coastal or border areas such as Yunnan and Guangdong provinces, or Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, he said....